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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26386186">Awaken</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eric_Jenkins/pseuds/Eric_Jenkins'>Eric_Jenkins</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>AU, Au where the whole story is a dream, Gen, aang just bumped his head, and spends the whole story very confused</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 09:15:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,441</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26386186</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eric_Jenkins/pseuds/Eric_Jenkins</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Aang could feel himself falling, not through air or water, but just through an empty void. His friends’ voices echoed and faded into a distant fuzz. The world had disappeared from view, and all he could see was darkness. His stomach twisted.<br/>And then he woke up.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Awaken</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>‘You did it! You defeated the Firelord!’<br/>
‘Well done, Aang. I’m proud of you.’<br/>
‘How did you take away his bending?! That’s amazing!’<br/>
‘You did it. You saved the world!’<br/>
So why did Aang feel so faint?<br/>
Surely, it wasn’t surprising. He had completed a mission he had been worrying over for such a long time - it was no wonder he felt like he was about to fall unconscious. It just felt so… unreal. Like it was just a dream.<br/>
Aang could feel himself falling, not through air or water, but just through an empty void. His friends’ voices echoed and faded into a distant fuzz. The world had disappeared from view, and all he could see was darkness. His stomach twisted.<br/>
And then he woke up.<br/>
In his bed.<br/>
In his room.<br/>
In the Southern Air Temple. </p><p>At first he didn’t quite recognise it. He had been away for so long - nearly one hundred and one years. He had come to accept the fact that it had been destroyed. So how come he was here?<br/>
He looked around his room. His glider was hanging on the wall where it usually was - his old one, not the new one crafted for him. Hadn’t it been burnt?<br/>
Sitting up in bed was difficult, what with a splitting headache, but he managed to do so, and looked out his window at the yard below. Young airbenders were playing and talking and petting Sky Bison. The older monks were walking the grounds, caught in a deep philosophical conversation, or just enjoying the day.<br/>
...What?<br/>
His door creaked open and Aang spun around, nearly falling over in the process. Gyatso stood in the doorway.<br/>
“I see you’re awake, Aang.”<br/>
“...Gyatso? Is that- is that really you?”<br/>
“It is.” Gyatso entered the room and sat down at the foot of the bed. “You took quite a hit.”<br/>
“Huh?”<br/>
Gyatso’s eyebrows furrowed a little. “How much do you remember?”<br/>
“Well, I-“ Aang paused. His brain felt foggy and confused. “I- you- you died!”<br/>
“Oh?”<br/>
“You died! I saw your skeleton! You were-“ Aang gulped. “You’re alive?”<br/>
“I am very much alive and well,” Gyatso nodded. “I see you’re very confused. Would you like me to tell you what happened?”<br/>
“Okay…” Aang sat down next to the monk.<br/>
“You were playing with some of your friends near the temple. One of them got a little over-excited, which happens to the best of us, and was waving his staff around. He accidentally hit you on the head. You were knocked out. Fortunately, there seems to be not much damage.”<br/>
“Not much damage…”<br/>
Gyatso looked a little concerned again. “Although I’m beginning to have second thoughts. You seemed convinced that I had passed away.”<br/>
Aang began tearing up. “So much happened! The war, and the Firelord, and Katara,” he rested his head in his hands. “I don’t- remember-“<br/>
“Tell me all that happened,” Gyatso said softly.<br/>
Aang told the entire story, start to finish. How he ran away, how he got trapped in the ice for a hundred years, about meeting Katara and Sokka and Toph and so many others, and about defeating the Firelord. He talked about coming back to the Air Temple, only to find it had been massacred, and about the siege of Ba Sing Se. There wasn’t a single detail he forgot.<br/>
It took a long time to explain the whole story. And the whole time, Gyatso sat and listened, a thoughtful expression on his face.<br/>
Once Aang had finished, they sat in silence for a moment. Then Aang asked, “Do you think I’m crazy?”<br/>
“Of course not,” Gyatso replied. “I’m finding all of this rather interesting, I must admit. It’s amazing what the human brain can imagine when it simply gets bumped by a staff.”<br/>
“I still can’t believe that it was all a dream,” Aang murmured. “I don’t know how much of it is real.”<br/>
“Well, I can guarantee that there is no war,” Gyatso said. “The Fire Nation has not been causing trouble of any kind. About your friends, I am afraid I do not know. There is the chance that they were all a figment of your imagination, but the world works in mysterious ways. I know your friend Bumi from the Omashu is from this reality, seeing as you visited him not long ago.”<br/>
“Yes, but he was old.”<br/>
“And I’m sure he would be very honoured to know that he has a place in your unconscious, even if he is old.”<br/>
“What about Appa? Is he real?”<br/>
Gyatso nodded. “The monks have been taking care of him while you were out. He’s missed you.”<br/>
Aang breathed a sigh of relief. It was good to know that his best friend existed.<br/>
Gyatso stood up. “I think going for a walk would be a good idea.”<br/>
Aang nodded. “I’d like to see around the Temple again, please.”</p><p>The two calmly strolled through the Temple gardens. Aang was still struggling to believe that this was real, but the more he saw, the more he remembered. What with defeating the Firelord, he had nearly forgotten what the gardens were like.<br/>
Although, he reminded himself, he technically never really defeated the Firelord.<br/>
Technically he never did many things.<br/>
“How long was I out for?” he asked.<br/>
“Six days,” Gyatso said. “I looked after you. Your friends wanted to visit you, but I thought you’d want to see them when you’re feeling better.”<br/>
Aang felt like he should have been surprised, but six days seemed like nothing compared to one hundred years.<br/>
“You are very distant, Aang.”<br/>
“Yeah, I guess.”<br/>
“You really cared about your friends.”<br/>
“Yeah, I guess.”<br/>
They stopped by a bridge and looked down at the running water.<br/>
“I just… can’t believe they just, don’t exist. They’re not real.”<br/>
“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Gyatso said. “Every face you see in a dream is someone you have seen in real life, don’t forget. Your mind can’t imagine a brand new face.”<br/>
Aang looked up. “Is that true?”<br/>
“It is,” Gyatso nodded. “Perhaps your friends do exist, although they might not be the people you thought they were.”<br/>
“Oh,” Aang looked back down at the stream. He was thinking of Katara. She might exist - but she could be completely different. She could be mean and selfish and nothing like how he had imagined her. It just didn’t seem right.<br/>
Gyatso stood calmly, looking out at the river and gardens. “Perhaps you would like to visit the Southern Water Tribe. I know you felt very close to Katara. She might be there.”<br/>
“It wouldn’t be the same,” Aang sighed. He didn’t want to meet a new Katara who didn’t know who he was, who might not even remotely like him.<br/>
“Maybe you would like some time to think about it,” Gyatso nodded. “If you do wish to visit the Southern Water Tribe, I’d be happy to go with you.”<br/>
Aang nodded. He felt very conflicted, confused and miserable.<br/>
“It feels like a year of my life just- vanished.”<br/>
“It feels like you’ve grown a year,” Gyatso replied. “You’ve woken up a new person. One who is worried and concerned, but still the same.”<br/>
“I should feel happy!” Aang felt a spike of anger in his chest. “I should feel happy that I’m back home. But I’m not! All my friends are gone, they never existed!” He felt himself tearing up again. “Not as I imagined them, anyway.”<br/>
Gyatso nodded. “That is a very fair way to react. A lot is different for you. I wonder if it is something to do with the Spirit World.”<br/>
“It might do,” Aang agreed unconvincingly.<br/>
The two began walking back to the Temple. A group of young airbenders whizzed over to Aang, on their airscooters.<br/>
“Aang! Hi! Are you ok now?” one asked.<br/>
“Yeah, I think so.”<br/>
“Cool! Want to play with us later?”<br/>
Aang felt a little jump in his stomach, but it wasn’t bad. “Sure!” he grinned.<br/>
“Ok, see you later!” The airbenders whizzed off again.<br/>
Aang still felt a longing for the dream he had left behind, but it didn’t hurt as much. He was back, he realized. Back in his own world. With his other friends.<br/>
A small smile crept over his face. He had forgotten how happy he had been here. How peaceful it was. How calm and happy and free from war.<br/>
“Gyatso?”<br/>
“Yes?”<br/>
“I have one more question.”<br/>
“What is it?”<br/>
“In my dream I was the Avatar. Is that real as well?”<br/>
Gyatso pondered this for a bit. “Well,” he said eventually, and gave a cheeky grin. “That would be telling.”</p>
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